Alabama Football: 3 Improvements Fans Need to See from Jake Coker and Blake Sims

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — If you liked seeing both Blake Sims and Jake Coker get meaningful quarterback snaps on Saturday, you’ll get a chance to see it again against Southern Miss.

Alabama’s quarterback competition will continue into at least the third game of the season and could go into the Florida game.

“We're making those evaluations on a day-to-day basis,” Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said. “We're not really ready to make any kind of prediction on what we should do in the Florida game when we're playing Southern Miss this week. That's really kind of what we're focused on right now.”

We’ve seen good and bad from both players through two games this year. Let's break down some improvements that both players could make in their game performance.

Blake Sims: Open it up

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Sims has done an excellent job of running Kiffin’s offense successfully up to this point. For him, that’s meant a lot of screens and quick throws to take advantage of the defenses Alabama has faced so far. That’s all well and good, as the offense has moved efficiently under his watch.

What we haven’t seen from him is consistent accuracy on downfield throws.

TideSports.com’s D.C. Reeves tracked Sims' throws through two games and found that his passes traveled an average of 2.3 yards in the air against Florida Atlantic and 5.3 yards against West Virginia before receivers took over after the catch.

Again, that’s worked against the teams Alabama has played so far. But he hasn’t shown much in the way of medium- or long-range throws.

Jake Coker: Control arm strength

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Coker’s advantage in this competition is arm strength, so he was no doubt eager to show it off Saturday.

Now, he needs to get it under control.

Coker overshot a deep ball to ArDarius Stewart and underthrew one to Amari Cooper on his second drive. He had a screen pass to 6’4” Cam Sims that sailed well over his head. And on a fade to Cooper from the five, he gunned it to Cooper's back shoulder for an incompletion instead of floating it over the defender. SEC Network cameras caught Cooper pointing up after that play as if to signal he wanted the ball thrown up.

Later in the game, Coker hit a 43-yarder to Cooper and a 40-yarder to Stewart. The arm strength is clearly there, but it’s just a matter of consistency now.

Both: Game management

“Game manager” is a label that gets slapped on every Alabama quarterback, often with a negative connotation. But Nick Saban expects his signal-callers to understand the offense situationally, limiting errors as much as possible, which shouldn’t be considered a weakness at all.

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Coker had a golden opportunity to show those management skills in the second quarter and failed.

He led Alabama from its own 22 to the FAU 4-yard line in about 50 seconds. But with a timeout remaining and only a handful of seconds left to try one more shot to the end zone, he scrambled around trying to find an open receiver and took a sack after time had expired, rather than getting down and settling for a field goal.

That drew the ire of Saban and rightfully so. He’s not going to turn his offense over to a guy who can’t properly manage a situation like that and leave easy points on the field.

Sims had a similar goal-line outcome as Coker but with a different cause.

Early in the third quarter on the 1-yard line, Sims went to handoff to T.J. Yeldon. Only Yeldon wasn’t expecting it.

Yeldon appeared to be setting up to pass-block and the result was a lost fumble that cost points. Judging by Saban's reaction, it was Sims’ fault, whether it was a communication issue or otherwise.

That’s another management issue that makes Saban pull his hair out.

Taking care of the ball and maximizing offensive output, even if that means settling for a field goal or taking a punt, are two critical factors Saban looks for in his quarterback and could be what eventually settles this competition.

Marc Torrence is the Alabama lead writer for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats come from CFBStats. All recruiting information comes from 247Sports.

Follow on Twitter @marctorrence.